Yak (Poephagus gruniens) are the cornerstone of life in mountain areas. By providing milk, fibre, meat, transport, fuel, and labour for agriculture and tourism, yak form a foundation on which pastoralists are able to support themselves in these hostile environments. The culture and economy around yak rearing have connected people in adjacent parts of Bhutan, India, and Nepal for centuries. The transboundary movement of herders among the highlands of the three countries is an age-old practice important for the prosperity of herding communities and the vitality of their herds in the Kangchenjunga LandscapeRead More

This study assesses the causes of forest resource depletion in the Poba reserve forest, Assam, India. Although many activities, such as hunting and grazing, are banned, the Poba reserve forest is being degraded. The results of a household survey show local communities have experienced a decrease in forest resources in 2012 compared to 2002. Lack of community-based institutions and proper forest management plan has opened access to the forest, resulting in illegal logging and over extraction of forest products. These activities have limited the ability of Poba reserve forest to deliver ecosystem goods and services, and prevented forest restoration. Change is forest cover and availability of forest products has adversely affected the livelihoods of more than two-thirds of local households. The study suggests that participatory involvement of local communities in forest management can reverse trends in deforestation and forest degradation and restore the ecosystem. The forest cannot stand alone; it needs active support of the local communityRead More

This study illustrates how a private sector- Plantec Coffee Estate (P) Ltd was able to successfully bring a positive change in restoring degraded landscape through private investment. Before establishment of agroforestry (1994), the land use was dominated by cultivated (73.2%), barren land (17.1%) and shrub/bushes (6.3%). Now 81.2% of area is covered by forest, out of which 52% has closed canopy. The total carbon stock of an area was found to be 6795 tons (equivalent to 24,939 tCO2), which cost would be USD 124,693 at the rate of 5 USD per tCO2. This finding also highlighted the fact that agroforestry in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region is a suitable biological mitigation intervention that contributes to NDC targets and REDD+ objectivesRead More

The incidence of conflicts among communities over the collection of Yarsagumba, the high value caterpillar fungus, has increased after the Government of Nepal has lifted a ban on its collection and trade in 2001. In most cases, conflicts over Yarsagumba harvesting persist either between locals and outsiders, or between collectors within a local community. In the Api Nampa Conservation Area in Darchula District, Nepal, conflicts are primarily caused by the competition for control over resources. The rights of the indigenous Shauka community(migratory herders), the Api Nampa Conservation Authority, and the non-Shauka communities of lower villages are at odds due to a lack of clarity, and the absence of coordination regarding the access to resources in the landscape. The Shauka community has restricted the Yarsagumba collection by ‘outsiders’ to specific and limited areas of their community forest and traditional grazing land. The lowland, non-Shauka community who are dissatisfied with the restrictions have excluded the Shauka people from the utilization of their winter pasture for animal grazing possible through the introduction of a community forestry programme. In this conflict, both communities suffer as the migratory lifestyle of the Shauka has been adversely affected, and earnings of the lowland community from Yarsagumba collection have been reduced. This is a no-win situation. Our study suggests that the Government of Nepal should prepare a national Yarsagumba management policy and local Yarsagumba management guidelines to address conflicts by clearly defining the roles, responsibilities and rights of local institutions and actors, while ensuring the provision of particular services in the community forestry programme to distant and seasonal usersRead More

Nepal has undergone several policy reforms over the years to address multi-dimensional global conservation goals. However, such reforms, in most cases, seems disregarded the participation of local people; leading to the conflicting situation between the state and the people. Relocation program, one of the government policy implemented to enhance levels of nature protection, carried out involuntarily, has often been accompanied by poverty, deprivation, and dissatisfaction among local people. Based on the desk review of conservation policies and field study from in and around Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve (SWR), we analyzed the effect on the local people due to changes in policies for managing protected areas (PA) over the years. The results showed that the involuntary displacement of households from PA especially indigenous communities resulted negative social impact including restriction on people’s customary rights to access natural resources and direct impact on livelihoods. This chapter suggests that such policy reforms and integrated management should be done with proper participation of people being affected, therefore, to insure sustainability of the policy implementationRead More

The present study develops a protocol for rapid in vitro micropropagation of a critically endangered and floriculturally most important epiphytic orchid, Dendrobium primulinum Lindl. through the culture of small shoot tip explants (0.3 to 0.5mm) derived from in vitro grown seedlings. The shoot tip explants cultured on solidified Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium and MS medium alone or supplemented with combination of various concentrations of growth regulators; α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), produced shoots and multiple shoots. The maximum numbers of rootless healthy shoots were observed on MS medium fortified with BAP 1.5 mgl-1 with an average value of 4.5 shoots per culture where shoot multiplication was initiated after 5 weeks of culture of shoot tip. Among the different tested combination, MS medium with BAP (1.5 mg l-1) and NAA (0.5 mg l-1) were most effective for the shoot multiplication. MS medium supplemented with various concentrations of rooting hormones viz. NAA, IAA and IBA showed positive response in development of roots, except NAA 0.5 mgl-1. The rooting was observed after 3 weeks of culture of shoot tip. The various concentrations of IAA and IBA were found to be effective hormone for rooting of D. primulinum in comparison to NAA. The best rooting response was observed on MS medium with exogenous supply of IAA 0.5 mgl-1. The well developed in vitro rooted plantlets were hardened successfully in the potting mixture containing cocopeat and sphagnum moss in the ratio of 2:1. Nearly 70% of plantlets survivedRead More

High frequency direct shoot proliferation was induced from the shoot tip explants derived from the in vitro grown seedlings of a critically endangered and horticulturally important ground orchid Phaius tancarvilleae (L'Her) Blume. Shoot tip explants cultured on solidified MS with alone or combination of various concentrations of NAA and BAP produced shoots and multiple shoots. The maximum number of healthy shoots was observed on MS with BAP (1.0 mg/l) with an average of 13.3 shoots per culture in 20 weeks; where shoot multiplication was initiated after 4 weeks of culture. Regenerated shoots rooted on MS with various concentrations of NAA, IAA, IBA. MS with NAA (0.5 mg/l) was the most appropriate condition for rooting. The well developed in vitro rooted plantlets were hardened successfully in the potting mixture containing cocopeat and sphagnum moss in the ratio of 2 : 1Read More

Tharu communities are rich in indigenous knowledge of managing environmental resources and coping with environmental stress. The dependency pattern of these communities on wild plants and their role in conservation of wild plants should be identified and explored. This study was carried out with the purpose of assessing dependency pattern of these communities on wild plants and understanding their attitude as well as role in conservation. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from concerned stakeholders. Primary data were supplemented and verified from key informants, field observation and secondary sources. Among the four categories of dependency, majority of the respondents were found under category dependent followed by most dependent and somewhat dependent, respectively, but minority of them were found under category not dependent. Almost all of the respondents were found to have played some role in wild plant conservation. Their attitude towards forest and resource conservation was positive, yet they were not satisfied with the traditional mechanism of forest conservation. The traditional approach of managing forest should, therefore, be modified and a new community-oriented approach should be promotedRead More

Tree-ring chronologies of Himalayan conifers (viz. Pinus, Picea, Abies, Cedrus, etc.) were compiled from more than 300 tree core samples from 11 different sites covering a wide area of the Western Himalaya. Distinct annual growth and little occurrence of double or missing rings are characteristic features of Himalayan conifers. Dating of individual samples was achieved for all sites except for a few from a high elevation glacier which exhibited patches of very narrow rings and a high frequency of resin canals. Moderately high values of common variance and signal-to-noise ratio indicate their usefulness for dendroclimatic studies. Significant improvement of statistical performance is observed for all sites after removing the auto-correlation structure in the series by auto-regressive modeling. A quantitative evaluation of the growth-climate relationships based on response function analysis on a monthly and seasonal scale indicates a similar pattern across several regions of the Western Himalaya. March-April-May (pre-monsoon) climate (temperature and precipitation) is an important limiting parameter for tree growth and can be successfully reconstructed for the past few centuries. UPDATE CODE: 199944 Record 167 of 324 in CC Search(R) 7 Editions 1999/10/02-1999/12/3Read More